City of Philadelphia v. Curtis
City of Philadelphia v. Curtis
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
James R. Curtis (claimant-appellee) is 48 years old and a former policeman for the City of Philadelphia (appellant).
Three administrative conferences were held before the police department’s Safety Officer. The Safety Officer’s recommendation concluded that claimant-appellee was suffering from a permanent and partial disability diagnosed as osteoarthritis of the lumbar spine which was not service connected. The Police Commissioner adopted this recommendation and denied the claim. Thereafter, claimant-appellee appealed to the Commission. In its adjudication, which denied claimant-appellee’s appeal, the Commission found that: “Appellant submitted the opinion of Seymour Schlomchik, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, who diagnosed appellant’s condition as a chronic sprain of the lower back. However, at the hearing before us appellant never alleged or suggested in any way that his disabling condition was anything other than osteoarthritis of the lumbar spine.
“We have carefully reviewed the entire matter and, while we sympathize with appellant, we find it impossible to conclude, on the basis of the record before us, that appellant has proven the service-connection of the disability by a fair preponderance of the evidence.”
Claimant-appellee then appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County which remanded the case to the Commission. The lower court’s remand directed the Commission to reconsider its legal conclusion in light of the fact that the medical report of claimant-appellee’s doctor, “expressed [Dr. Schlomchik’s] opinion that the ‘original injury (1958) is basically responsible for his present condition.’ As the opinion of an orthopedic surgeon, this was entitled to great weight.” The City of Philadelphia has appealed to this Court from the lower court’s order.
Initially, we must note that with limited exceptions, the general rule of law provides that an order of the
In addition, however, it should be noted that while the Commission need not make enumerated findings of fact, its findings should be clear, consistent, and cover all material issues of fact. Hopefully, the Commission’s next adjudication will contain more extensive and less ambiguous findings.
The order of the lower court is affirmed and the record remanded to the Civil Service Commission of Philadelphia.
This is one of a package of 16 appeals from the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. All 16 cases are concerned with City of Philadelphia policemen, the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission, and Regulation 32 of the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission. Questions concerning the general procedural and substantive law to be applied in all 16 cases were dealt with in City of Philadelphia v. Hays, 13 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 621, 320 A. 2d 406 (No. 897 C.D. 1973, filed May 29, 1974). Our holdings in Hays on such general matters are equally applicable here.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.